Toe shoes and typecasting: It's 'Dancing With the Stars'!

Monday

Sep 15, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Even if you don't watch "Dancing With the Stars" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG), you can't ignore the show's casting. Like every season that preceded it, the 19th incarnation of "Dancing" presents a peculiar cross-section of pop culture, ranging from ingenues to participants well into their dotage.

Even if you don't watch "Dancing With the Stars" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG), you can't ignore the show's casting. Like every season that preceded it, the 19th incarnation of "Dancing" presents a peculiar cross-section of pop culture, ranging from ingenues to participants well into their dotage.

Every season brings a middle-aged talking head media-type not known for physical grace. Remember Tucker Carlson and Kenny Mayne? This season, that slot has been filled by PBS host Tavis Smiley.

The emotional heart of "Dancing" belongs to the slightly over-the-hill star who the show's not-exactly-youthful audience will champion. This year, that Kirstie Alley/John O'Hurley slot belongs to "Back to the Future" actress Lea Thompson.

"Dancing" loves to include a figure from the so-called conservative side of the pop/political divide. Who can forget Bristol Palin and Tom Delay? This season that peg belongs to Sadie Robertson, the granddaughter of "Duck Dynasty" controversialist Phil Robertson. She's just 17, the youngest dancer of this season.

ABC also uses "Dancing" to promote stars in the Disney corporate firmament, so look for Janel Parrish of ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars."

There are no NFL stars this season, but sports are well represented by Olympian Lolo Jones, NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip and martial artist Randy Couture.

"Dancing With the Stars" is like many mediocre big-budget movies. Once you know the cast, actually watching it can be anticlimactic.

Television may be awash with ultraviolence, but that doesn't mean that witnessing the real thing isn't harrowing.

"Terror at the Mall" (9 p.m., HBO) uses extensive closed-circuit footage and first-person accounts to recall the gruesome events of Sept. 21, 2013, when members of the Islamist group Al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 67 civilians and injuring nearly 200.

The mall attracted a mix of Kenyan society and expatriates, as well as Africans, South Asians, Europeans and some Americans. This film demonstrates the bravery of the victims and how people put aside racial, tribal and national differences to help each other under horrible conditions.

Jimmy Fallon welcomes Barbra Streisand on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC). Streisand has not appeared on a late-night talk show in more than 50 years. She's promoting "Partners," a new album of duets.